New Delhi, November 27:
Farmers on Saturday deferred their ‘sansadchalo’, or ‘march to Parliament’ call, two days before the government is to introduce a bill cancelling the farm laws that have triggered protests nationwide.
“We are postponing the ‘Parliament march’ for November 29. The government has promised us that the laws will be repealed in Parliament on the 29th,” farmer leader Dr Darshan Pal told reporters this afternoon, after a meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a group of farmer unions spearheading the fight against the three “black” farm laws.
“We had written a letter to the Prime Minister, in which we had made many demands. We had demanded that (police) cases against farmers should be quashed… MSP (minimum support price) to be guaranteed… (families of) farmers martyred in this movement should get compensation… (cases filed against farmers for) stubble burning and electricity bills should also be cancelled,” he said.
“We will wait for the Prime Minister’s letter till December 4… we will announce out next action then,” Dr Pal said.
Earlier today Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar urged farmers to end their agitation, saying he saw “no point” in it continuing now that the government had agreed to scrap the laws.
Mr Tomar also said a committee would be constituted to discuss issues raised by the farmers, and that the government had accepted demands to drop stubble burning cases.
The Agriculture Minister, however, made no specific reference to a bill promising MSP, which remains a core demand for protesting farmers.
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the farm laws would be rolled back, and asked farmers to stand down and return home. Thousands have been camped out at the borders of Delhi for more than a year to demand the laws’ repeal.
Farmer unions, however, insisted the protest would go on till the laws are formally repealed and all demands, including the legal guarantee on MSP, are met.
The BJP has issued a whip to its Lok Sabha MPs to be present in Parliament on Monday when the Minister tables the bill to repeal the farm laws.
